Texas law enforcement officers (troopers, police officers, deputies) arrest people then interrogate them and take people into interrogation rooms for questioning as part of crime investigation routinely. Shearin called a friend in the homicide unit to ask about Thompson, whom he had never met. Was it possible that he thought he was about to lose the woman he loved?. Thompson did his best to defend himself. The officer shrugged. I want him brought down.. Something happened there tonight, and it doesnt make sense., The only thing I can think of is that he was careless sometimes with guns, Jaffe said. Do I feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I may have provoked something? She also said that when he got angry, he could be a little scary and that he threw stuff in the house. She would usually ignore him when he got into one of his moods, but this time it had only made him angrier. The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. And in Cleveland, an argument among friends spins out of control when one of them makes a deadly decision. Although she had her own apartment, she was planning to move in with him as soon as he finished remodeling the house. But there was no corruption involved. He asked Thompson if he had told one of Burnsides friends that this was the case of a lifetimethe kind of case that could make him famous. Thompson asked why there was so little blood on her hands and arms. But he stayed in the bedroom, pacing, walking around, yelling at me, screaming, angry. Finally, after he couldnt get her to respond to him, he left the room. As Lord hugged Tittle and members of her family, Thompson stood at the defense table, his mouth open. He is one of the most popular detectives in the Dallas Police Departmenta charismatic man, big and boisterous, with a powerful deep voice, says Craig Miller, a former deputy police chief who served as Thompsons lieutenant in the homicide unit in 2010. Tittle maintains that Thompson never considered the idea that Burnside may have accidentally shot himself, despite evidence that he was drunk at the time and had a history of being reckless with firearms. She certainly had not used them to wash herself off, she said. Michael Lowe is Celebrating Over 20 YEARS of Service. I dont remember the exact words that were used, he told Lundberg. Why did you wait seven minutes before calling 911? he yelled. As one Dallas County prosecutor put it, They can, even for the most well-intentioned of reasons, get too focused on making an arrest at the detriment of the true story., Mitchell began evaluating Thompsons case against Lord. I wondered about the story Jaffe had told Thompson about finding her in the front yard, desperately saying, I wasnt going to leave him. Then Jaffe added one more detail. It was a very overwhelming issue., Thompson leaned back in his chair and stared at Lord. But Detective Thompson couldnt or wouldnt accept that. Tittle said that Thompson allowed a screenplay [of the shooting] in his mind to take over. And thats a dangerous, dangerous thing if youre a homicide detective with the Dallas Police Department., Lord took the stand and was overcome with emotion as she described her love for Burnside. During the lengthy interrogation, Thompson repeatedly accused Lord of murdering Michael Burnside, who died in May 2010 from a gunshot wound to the head from his 9 mm Beretta handgun while drunk on vodka and Red Bull. Yes. At the least, she said, she wanted to make sure his actions were publicly documented so that he could never do to someone else what he had done to her. On August 6 Brown signed the report, and Thompson was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. 3. Thats the exact type of case that might have been portrayed on The First 48, right? Tittle asked. Thompson asked Lundberg if he thought it was possible that a person who was much shorter than Burnsidesomeone, say, who was five feet two inches tall, the height of Olivia Lordcould have aimed the Beretta at a 45-degree angle toward Burnsides head and pulled the trigger? At Christmas, you thought you were going to get a ring. Thompson has still destroyed my life and hes still out there working cases. Thompson picked up his cellphone and called Burnsides father, John, a successful Dallas business analyst. And whats really frightening is that Thompson could come back after me, plant some new fake evidence, and arrest me for murder again. A light drizzle was falling in the early morning hours of May 9, 2010, when detective Dwayne Thompsonpulled up in front of a modest home on Spring Grove Avenue, in a tree-lined neighborhood in North Dallas. But she maintained her innocence, claiming that he committed suicide. "You look at that. But I dont know how to do it. The jury watched it. Thompson misrepresented any of the facts that were provided by Witness Rastegar and that there were no signs of a criminal offense. Indeed, the report continued, Thompson did have probable cause to arrest Suspect Lord.. And, yes, she said, she had grown irritated when she heard Burnside and Jaffe talking about the birthday party. Seriously, does anyone believe this story that Olivia tells about being in the bathroom and hearing something that sounded like glass breaking in the kitchen? Bring on the Shiplap? In the video, Rastegar initially seemed to confirm what he had supposedly told Thompson and Lundberg on the porch. . Then his own cellphone rang. And now you have this thing where he was spending a lot of money on his friend, but he didnt spend near as much money on your birthday. Lord said that she and Burnside had gotten into an argumentsomething about a birthday party. Was she Miss Right or Miss Right Now? Thompson asked. For someone to say Dwayne maliciously would go after Miss Lord and try to set her up, I would say, You have the wrong guy, said Andrea Handley, one of the offices senior prosecutors. Dressed in one of his dark suits, Thompson strode toward his seat. An expert witness with expertise as both a retired officer and homicide detective from the same police department, testified on Lords behalf. But, said Lundberg, there was no sign of blood spatter on Burnsides right hand or arm. Dallas Homicide Detective Dwayne Thompson revisits an empty plot of land where a grizzly double homicide had occurred years prior.Subscribe for more The Firs. He took her to dinner, and the date lasted the entire weekend. In fact, when Tittle asked Thompson, Is it still your belief that Olivia Lord murdered Michael Burnside? the detective didnt hesitate. However, the police may or may not let the person know about this right (remember the experts concerns that Thompson had not told Lord about her right to a lawyer). (Thompson still hadnt told anyone outside his office about the discrepancy.) All we want is for Olivia to go through a criminal trial, said John Burnside, sitting with Cindi in their East Dallas home. Look at it! The way Lord had described it, she and Burnside were deeply in love, and they had been talking about marriage. Do I want to know an answer? Another detective, Dwayne Thompson, charged into the interrogation room. Something did not add up. Political career [ edit] In 2014, Thompson ran for election to represent District 10 in the Tennessee House of Representatives, but lost to Republican incumbent Steve McManus. And a handful of Burnsides friends have reunited with Lord, saying they now believe that she had nothing to do with his death. They can try too hard to make the existing evidence fit their theory as to who is guilty. According to Jaffe, Lord overheard the conversation and started to get upset. She told Burnside she was hurt that he would go to the trouble of organizing a friends birthday party when he had done next to nothing for her own birthday a few months earlier. Jaffe was sitting in a plastic chair next to a small table pushed against a wall. And then theres Jaffe, Burnsides best friend, who says he remains convinced that Lord is hiding something. Thompson thanked John and told him he would be back in touch. During her twenties, she always seemed to be out and about, a regular at trendy nightspots and concerts. In early May, word spread that the departments Public Integrity Unit had launched an investigation of Thompsons work on the Lord case. He had on a dark fedora, a dark suit, a white shirt with a tie, and dress shoes. Seven minutes is a long time, Thompson told her several times on the video. For several seconds, the courtroom was quiet except for Lords muffled sobs. Description: Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. Or maybe, as Thompson theorized, Lord had missed some of the residue on her hand and her shirt when she cleaned herself up after pulling the trigger. And on this morning, Thompson was especially interested in the victimology of Burnside. I was leaning over my future husbands body, Lord said. Im willing to accept that Mikey might have totally screwed up. Although Thompson would not consent to my request for an interview, people who have talked to him say he feels that he has done nothing wrong. Burnsides father showed up to let her in, and when Lord tried to tell him she had not murdered his son, he cut her off. No, said Lord. That was one of the most-watched episodes in The First 48s run, drawing 2.3 million viewers, and the producers told Thompson that they wanted to do more shows with him. He insisted that what Rastegar told him in the homicide office was the same and consistent with what he said out on the porch. After Jaffe went home, the argument escalated. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Burnside had been involved in a couple of accidents. She identified herself as Olivia Lord, Burnsides girlfriend, and said she had just found Burnside lying on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to his head. And Im a person who thinks your behavior tonight doesnt add up. He pointed his finger at her. He allowed a few seconds to pass. Veteran Dallas police homicide detective Dwayne Thompson is on desk duty pending an internal investigation. He called Jaffe, who had also turned against Lord, to see if he could help him locate her. She had always insisted that she had not fled from the police. Or maybe the two had struggled for the gun before it went off, leaving residue on both of them. Just because the words were less strong doesnt mean they were any less true.. The officer pointed to a woman sitting on a chair in the front yard, her face in her hands. She claimed that Thompson show a reckless disregard for her rights in having Plaintiff arrested in 2010 for the shooting death of her boyfriend, Mcihael Brunside. Thompson stormed out of the room and asked Lundberg to see what he could get out of Lord. Thompson looked at his notebook, where he had written down the calls Lord had made on her cellphone. Based on what we see, it looks like you got upset and shot him. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Why did you let my son bleed to death on his own kitchen floor? 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